thesirenwithnovoice

[thesirenwithnovoice]

Thoughts about how different mediums of a same story may give you different views (and rambling about the Tower of Heaven)//TW: violence

Lately I've been wondering about how manga readers might have very different visions than anime watchers of a same story, because althought the plot remains the same, some little details can change our whole perception of a story.

This reminded me of the first time I read Fairy Tail and how terrified I was at how cruel and dark the Tower of Heaven's arc is.

Jellal's face (that by that time, were only an 11-years-old kid) drippling blood while being tortured shocked me so much as a kid and I still find it one of the most disturbing scenes in the manga, lol.

In the anime, the content itself is the same. We know the kids are slaves that go throught different kinds of abuse, however, I find the manga way gloomier and more graphic. And althought part of it might be just a personal opinion, it's not entirely without basis: Mashima uses different techniques in his art to represent facts whitin the story than the animators, and it leads to a topic I really love: semiotics - how we interpret images, and how detais can be used to convey a certain felling throught art.

Colors and composition helps A LOT creating an atmosphere and causing a feeling on the reader. Proportionally speaking, a manga doesn't have colors, but it has it's own alternatives - the Tower of Heaven arc, in comparison to the rest of the manga, uses a lot more black and hatching.

One can argue some scenes are still "visually darker" in the anime, since it has the advantage of being able to play with shadows and colors in a broader aspect; however, since Fairy Tail is not an anime that changes it's saturation or colour pallete, the loud colors in most scenes end up not helping building the same dreadful atmosphere.

(It doesn't mean you can't make a scary story using bright and colorful tones, tho. A great example is the movie Midsommar. But it's not an easy task!)

Erza's childhood memories in the manga also carry a "dirtier" feeling; the kids are always covered by bruises, and the background is rougher. Also, the anime chooses to represent slavery in a more fanciful way: the kids wear stylized handcuffs and are assaulted with magic attacks, what inevitably softens the scenes by distancing them from real life slavery.

In a story, an act of violence will always be more shocking if your brain is able to automatically make a connection with real life. Seeing blood conveys a feeling of disconfort easier than a character being hit by a wave of magic, even if the author tells you "this is painful"; that's why some people say they started to find difficult to watch horror movies involving kids after becoming parents, because after experenciating something in real life, they connect with fiction harder.

The above scene causes me very different feelings in each media. In the manga, the despair in Jellal's face when seeing they removed Erza's eye is much clearer, and his skinny body, his eyes filling up with tears (he doesn't cry in the anime) shows not only a feeling of worry, but of utter dread and helplessness. All that helps endorsing the fact that, doesn't matter how brave he is, they are still just fragile kids, unable to protect themselves from the cruelty of the world around them.

I want to make it clear, though, that this is not in any way meant to be a critique to the animation team, or an affirmation that one type of media is better than another. We all have our personal preferences, but each media has it's target audience and objective. Fairy Tail's animators certainly do know how to convey the same feelings on the public, they just choose not to, for a variety of reasons. Probably because the anime is aimed for a broader and younger audience, many scenes have been softened or censored somehow. Also, animation consumes more labour than a manga page, so unless you have a lot of time and investment, the art tend to be simpler.

So do you think it affects the plot, Siren?

In my opinion, yes, even if just in a subtle way. In the manga, I think this raw brutality helps Jellal's character to gain a more interesting complexity. To me, he feels less like a hero and more like what he actually is: just a really kind and brave kid trying his best to protect his friends.

Another major change they made in the anime was removing the ambiguity (something that happened more than once in Fairy Tail's adaptation, such as in the famous kiss scene), leaving clear since the beginning that Jellal was a victim of a mind controlling spell; while in the manga, until Urtear's confirmation at the end of the arc, we do not know for sure if he have been brainwashed or just convinced to adore Zeref.

And as much as I can see why some fans might hate it because it leaves room for people to see Jellal as a bad man, I (as someone who is not afraid of loving evil characters, heh), find it interesting and somehow enriching to the plot, because it gives the whole arc a reflection: is extreme suffering, specially at such an young age, capable of changing someone so much?

We are left questioning what did "Zeref" say, or do, that made him change so much. And having so many real life examples where despair has made people easy victims of manipulation throught faith or falling into extremist ideologies, after we seeing Jellal's pain and fragility in a tangible way, it's not that hard at all to understand how he went insane and managed to drag all the other slaves along with him.

Also, I think it makes it easier to understand Erza's empathy towards him. Jellal and Erza are characters connected not only by the affection they nourish for one another, but also for sharing the same pain. She is the only person that fully understands the horrors he lived in the tower, since they were the only kids that have been in the torture chamber. And althought she never tries to justify Jellal's actions, Erza does not only show him compreension, but she feels guilty for not being able to retribute his protection and prevented him from losing his mind.

That doesn't mean, tho, that there weren't many other clues he was not acting on free will: be it his grotesque change of personality, his hysterical laughter out of nowhere or his motivations that doesn't hold (because they were never his to begin with). To me, all that at first glance makes him closer to Batman's Joker, someone that grew insane after so much suffering, than a villain that's genuinely just plain selfish and thirsty for power. And that only makes me find him a creepier villain, since personally, I find sadism and insanity way scarier than ghosts.

So this is just a looong collection of thoughts about how small choices can change a lot the "feeling" we get from a scene or a character. I hope someone can find it interesting too. There are many other examples of adaptations where it happened, and if you remember one you'd like to share, I would love to hear!

Last but not less important, all the love for Mashima's art, the Tower of Heaven arc (that is a personal favorite) and Jellal, a character I deeply love and one that holds for sure the strongest spirit in the manga for being able to become such a kind and mature man despite everything he has been thought. ♡

[thesirenwithnovoice]

Random addition but I wanna reiterate how meaningful are these words she said.

She probably thought he was dead. Elza has been missing him since she left the tower, when she was still a little girl, and grew up with him inhabiting her mind as a painful memory - and even when they finally reunite again, she's scared because at any time he can be taken away by the council or, as he expressed, even by his own depression.

After everything they have been through, can you just imagine how meaningful it must be for them to simply be able to casually chat, see each other and just spend some peaceful time together??

I love them.

Saudade.

Portuguese word that refers to the melancholic longing or yearning for a beloved, yet absent, something or someone.

[thesirenwithnovoice]

“Bath Time”When you say nothing at all🪥

[thesirenwithnovoice]

Scarlet ❤️🩸

Reference study. I'm not quite sure if I like or hate the result, so I might try redoing it later.

[thesirenwithnovoice]

Acknowledging that “critical thinking” means “thinking about things in a thorough way from different perspectives” and not “finding every flaw in a thing and fixating on it until all the joy is gone” is so liberating.

It’s supposed to be about intellectual curiosity, not about finding ways to devalue things that aren’t perfect or that we personally dislike.

[thesirenwithnovoice]

On Siren being a huge nerd today's episode, there's an example of how details can change or add to the overall meaning of an image that I find pretty interesting:

In the anime, it's a cute scene in which we can see a bit of how Erza sees Jellal and how he used to always encourage his friends. In the manga, it's also sweet, but there are some subtle differences:

The change in details allows us know a little more about the dynamics between the kids, specially the older two: Wally and Simon realize Erza's shy reaction when Jellal talks to her, and both have different reactions to it - Wally making a teasingly gesture and Simon being the only one looking unpleased (details that we know will be very relevant later in the story).

(Noting that I'm just comparing one frame isolatedly, what doesn't necessarily mean you can't get the same conclusion in the anime throught other scenes! My point here is just to highlight how simple expression changes can add meaning and different information to a single image, what I do not only find interesting as a reader, but also very useful as an artist as a way to enrich our drawings. If we only had this single scene to compare, maybe in the anime version Simon's jealousy wouldn't be so clear, nor Wally's awareness of Elza innocent crush.)

Now, one might think I'm criticizing Simon's character for loving how the manga reinforces it, but actually, it's an aspect that I appreciate a lot: in Fairy Tail, there's no dicotomy, or saint. Even the man that bravely sacrificed his life to save Erza, has always suffered from one sin: envy.

And poetically, I think in his death, Simon finally became the man he always wished to be; Erza said Jellal used to be admired for his leadership qualities, and he was always ready to sacrifice his well being for his friends without a hinge of hesitation - however, it had never been an easy role to play. We can't blame Simon, or anyone, for having not been like him; after all, being a hero comes at a high cost: for Jellal, his sanity, and for Simon, his own life.

[thesirenwithnovoice]

this is one of my favourite panels of them ever it's so good

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Coffee break ☕️

[thesirenwithnovoice]

“Erza’s Cinderella?”

The authorized Chinese version of the light novel “Fairy Tail in Wonderland” is finally released by the Taiwan publisher Tong Li, 3 years after the publication of the original Japanese version. Being a fan of Erza and Jerza, I’m really happy to be able to find out finally what’s happened with Erza and the rumored fake Jellal prince in the story. Since there’s no official English version at the moment and I love Erza, I decided to summarize and translate Erza’s part of the story into English based on the Chinese version, for those who can’t read Japanese / Chinese and are fans of Erza and Jerza just like me. While my translation isn’t professional and perfect, I can safely say that the contents are not far away from the Chinese version, and all the significant parts are included. 

[thesirenwithnovoice]

There's something about fandom that makes me very comfortable because I feel this is the only place where I can express that everyday I have to hold myself back from writing an essay about every single pannel of a 63 vol manga and people will understand this is not an hyperbole

[thesirenwithnovoice]

Posting on AO3 is like, I'm doing this for myself, but also immediately refreshing the page every 5 seconds to see if you get any hits comments or kudos. But totally only writing for me.

[thesirenwithnovoice]

Personal rambling: Small life achievements and embracing what makes life worth to you

2024 accomplishments? I finally completed the lacks on my Fairy Tail collection and I now have a pretty home for it✨"But Siren, isn't it as simple as going to the store and buying it?" NO, I almost gave up one of the things that makes me happiest in the world and I wanna vent, sorry

Last year I decided to sell most of my manga collection, including Fairy Tail. But since it used to be my favorite during my early teen days, I choose to read it one last time - and the result, well, I think you can guess xD (my sincere apologies to the buyer that had his order cancelled).

And it may sound silly, but realizing that I still love FT after all those years and despite it's flaws was a giant turning point in my life because, until now, I hadn't realized that I abandoned my passions to live someone else's truth.

I lost my teen years to depression (mostly due to bullyng). I heard so many terrible things about my personality and appearance and I became so insecure about everything that I liked, that I tried to distance myself from the person I was as much as possible. I lost joy in reading, drawing and even listening to music. But eventually, things changed and I found myself on a gentler place - I graduated, found people I care abt and life become peaceful, so I thought I was happy.

I didn't realize that I had been living like a zombie until now.

Last year I engaged on reading again and it was the first time in almost 8 years that I truly felt alive and excited again. There's so many things I want to do and draw that I can barely find time to eat - and it's a pleasure. For someone that used to wake up wishing they didn't, can you see how much that means?

Some may not understand how small things can have such a big impact in one's life, but I do love stories since I realized I was a conscious being (judging by my first drawings, I was 2 xD). My earliest memories are my father reading for me and daydreaming about videogame characters. I say without doubt that, along with nature and my loved ones, NOTHING makes me happier than art. But being yourself is not always an easy task, because insults don't usually stop at "you're stupid", they turn into "you're a freak and a harm to the world for being the way you are". And well, it's hard to not worry you might actually be a terrible person. It took me a while to see most of those opinions are not based on rational thinking, so trying to argue is a lost battle. Some people will always be rude, and it's not our fault. But I'm now at peace believing I will always be a better person minding my own business and being happy with silly things than spreading hate and bigotry.

It may sound creepy, but having flirted with death for long made me see life in a lighter way cuz, if I'm going to die anyway, then I lose nothing spending my time doing what brings me joy.

So idk if this loong rant makes any sense, but I wanted to share it because I can't stop thinking about how close I was to erasing something that is such a big part of my joy in life just because I was scared of facing my fear of judgement. In the end, it's not only about FT.

And if someone is going through a similar thing, I hope this can be a reminder things can get better, I promise. Please remember time is too precious to waste with stupid people. There's work to do. And pets to feed. And cool arts to see. And cute bugs to gently guide out of your home when they get stuck. 🌱🐞

[thesirenwithnovoice]

yall gotta learn to separate "this character deserved better" (as in "this character has an intentionally tragic story that is supposed to feel bad") and "this character deserved better" (as in "this character had so much potential and was failed by the writer")

[thesirenwithnovoice]

RinHaru Week 2024 Day 08 - SHOUJO SHENANIGANS (Red Prompt)

What happened before Day 04. LOL ✨💖💙

AN AWESOME 2025 FULL OF RINHARU AND WONDERFUL THINGS TO YOU ALL!!!!! ✨🍾🥂💖💙🥰

(and thanks once again to the @rinharuweek staff for their effort and dedication! 🙏👏)

[thesirenwithnovoice]

Quick comfort doodle. ( ∩´ ᐜ `∩)♡ Happy Holydays!

[thesirenwithnovoice]

[thesirenwithnovoice]

it always sucks in romances when characters aren't active participants in their own relationship or attraction. when it's always "why do i feel this way" and they can't name a single reason they like the love interest i'm like idk man i think you should get out of there maybe.

at some point if you're going too hard on the Genuine Confusion and the character having no clue why they're doing anything they're doing or why they even like the other party it's like. I think you were cursed by a wizard. or an author, which is something similar. it becomes something akin to The Narrative Has Mandated That This is A Love Story and Therefore I Must Be In Love rather than like. a convincing romance between parties who care about each other